VELVET PLANT

FAMILY: Asteraceae | GENUS: GYNURA

Plant Details

These natives of the Old World tropics offer strikingly colorful foliage. Usually grown as house- plants, they also make interesting additions to borders. Thrive in fertile, well-drained soil outdoors.

purple velvet plant

gynura aurantiaca

CS, TS; USDA 9-11.

Native to Indonesia.

Upright in youth, clambering when mature.

Grows 45 feet tall in south Florida but is shorter elsewhere; may spread twice as wide as tall.

Deeply toothed leaves, to 8 inches long and 4 inches wide, are heavily cloaked with velvety purple hairs, as are the stems.

Leaves emerge bright purple, then mature to deep green.

Sometimes blooms in late summer, bearing 34 inches., yellowish orange flowers that take on purple tones with age.

Purple Passion has smaller leaves and is distinctly trailing; excellent for use in hanging baskets.

Outdoors, purple velvet plant grows best in light shade. Indoors, give it bright light from a south- or west-facing window. Let the soil surface become dry to the touch before watering; then water thoroughly. Feed every other week in spring and summer and monthly in fall and winter with a general-purpose liquid houseplant fertilizer. Watch out for mealybugs and dispatch them by dabbing them with a cotton swab dipped in alcohol. Propagate by stem cuttings taken in spring and summer. Cut back old, woody plants to produce fresh, colorful foliage.